THE RIVAL AEROPLANE.
In the meanwhile, the exciting race against time had resulted in
overheating the Golden Butterfly's cylinders, and a stop of an hour or
more at the junction was necessary. Thus it was quite dark when the young
Prescotts were ready to make for home. A small crowd had gathered to see
them start, for there was a little community of houses scattered about
the junction.
They decided to go the way they had come, namely, to follow the tracks to
the crossing and then turn off for home. It was their first experience in
night piloting, and when they were ready Peggy switched on the tiny
shaded bulb that illuminated the compass. This done, she started the
engine, and the Golden Butterfly shot into the air under its reduced load
with an almost buoyant sense of freedom.
The crossing was reached in several minutes less than it had taken them
to reach the junction on the going trip. Peggy turned off as she marked
the glowing lights beneath her, and presently the Golden Butterfly was
skimming along above dark woodlands and gloom-enshrouded meadows. There
was something awe inspiring about this night flying. Above them the
canopy of the stars stretched like a mantle spangled with silver sequins.
Below, the earth showed as a black void.
They were flying slowly to avoid overheating the cylinders again.
Suddenly a bright glare shot up against the night from below, and a
little ahead of them. It died down almost instantly, only to flash up
once more.
"Gid Gibbons's forge!" exclaimed Roy. "Let's fly over by there and see
what he's doing."
"All right," agreed Peggy; "ever since my visit there I have felt a great
interest in Mr. Gibbons. But we'll have to make haste, there's some wind
coming before long."
The girl was right. A filmy mist, like a veil, had spread over the stars,
dimming their bright lamps, and a wind was beginning to sigh in the trees
under them.
But they had not reached Gid Gibbons's place, or rather a location above
it, when an astonishing thing happened. From the ground a red light and a
green light set at some distance apart began to rise. Up and up they
climbed through the night in long, swinging circles. Between them was
dimly visible the dark outlines of some fabric.
"An aeroplane!" cried the boy and girl, simultaneously.
"Fan Harding's aeroplane!" cried Peggy, an instant later.
"And--oh, Roy--it can fly!" she added, admiringly.
"No doubt of that," was the rather grudging reply, as the red and green
lights soared up and up.
"Keep clear of it, sis, we don't want a collision," warned Roy.
"Oh, I'd like to get close and see it," breathed Peggy. "I never would
have credited Fan Harding with being able to do it."
"Nor I," exclaimed Roy, his dislike of Fan Harding giving place to
admiration--genuine admiration--of the other's ingenuity.
"Well, he's beaten me out at my own particular specialty," he exclaimed
presently, after an interval in which the lights had climbed far above
the Golden Butterfly. "That's a better machine than ours, Peg."
"I guess we'll have to admit that," rejoined the girl, with a sigh. "I
wonder if he'll enter for the prize?"
"Of course. With a craft like that he'd be foolish if he didn't. Odd that
he's trying it out at night, though."
"I suppose he wants to keep secret what it can do and then spring it on
an astonished world," rejoined Peggy. "Good gracious!" she broke off
hurriedly.
The aeroplane had given a sudden lurch, and at the same instant a sharp
puff of wind struck them both in the face. Peggy's hands fairly flashed
among her levers, and she averted what might have been a bad predicament.
Involuntarily, at the same instant, Roy had glanced up at the other
aeroplane to see how it was faring. To his astonishment the lights did
not seem to waver.
"Wow, Peg!" he cried, "that puff didn't even bother Fan Harding's craft.
It was uncanny to see her weather it."
"There's something uncanny about it altogether," sniffed Peggy; "it's a
regular phantom airship."
"That's just what it is," agreed Roy, "but I'm afraid it is a substantial
enough phantom to carry off that $5,000 prize."
Another puff prevented Peggy from replying just then. Once more the
Golden Butterfly careened violently, and then, under Peggy's skillful
handling, righted herself. But this time the puff was followed by a
steady rush of wind.
"Better turn, Peg, before it gets any worse," advised Roy; "we're off our
course now."
"I--I tried to," exclaimed Peggy, desperately, "but the wind won't let
me. I don't dare to."
"We must," exclaimed Roy, with a serious note in his voice; "if this wind
freshens much more we won't be able to turn at all."
He leaned forward and took the wheel from his sister. But the instant he
tried to steer the aeroplane round, the wind, rising under one wing tip,
careened her to a perilous angle.
"No go," he said; "we've got to keep on going."
"But where can we land?" asked Peggy, a little catch in her voice.
"We'll have to take chances on that," decided Roy. "It would be suicidal
to try to buck this wind."
The breeze had now freshened till it was singing an Aeolian song in every
wire and brace of the Golden Butterfly. Brother and sister could feel the
stout fabric vibrate under the strain of the blast.
The aeroplane was moving swiftly now. But it was the toy of the wind,
which grew stronger every minute. The dark landscape beneath fairly flew
by under them. Neither of them thought to look back at the red and green
lights in the sky behind them.
All at once, Roy, who had leaned over his sister's shoulder and glanced
at the compass, gave a sharp cry.
"We've got to turn, sis," he said, in a tense, sharp voice.
"What do you mean, Roy? Are we in any very serious danger?"
The girl's voice shook nervously in response to the anxiety expressed in
her brother's tone.
"Danger!" echoed Roy. "Girlie, we are being blown out to sea!"
Blown out to sea! The words held a real poignant terror for Peggy.
"Oh, Roy, we must do something!" she cried, helplessly.
"Yes, but what? We can't, we daren't turn about. The machine would tip
like a bucket. No, we must keep on and trust to luck."
Peggy shuddered. Hurtled along in the wind-driven darkness, brother and
sister sat in silence, waiting for the first warning that they were
approaching the sea.
In the blackness it was impossible to see anything ahead, and the
starlight, which, dim as it was, might have helped, had been overcast by
a filmy covering of light clouds.
Once or twice as they were hurried helplessly along, the propeller
beating desperately against the wind, they saw, far below them, the
cheerful lights of some farmhouse. Further off a glare against the sky
indicated the lights of Sandy Bay.
How they wished that they were safe and sound at home, as they were blown
onward by the wind, going faster and faster every minute.
Roy, his pulses beating hard, and every nerve at tension, had taken the
wheel from his sister, even at the risk of careening the aeroplane when
they shifted their positions. Every now and then he tried to turn ever so
little, but each time a tip at a dangerous angle warned him not to
attempt such a thing.
All at once Peggy uttered a shrill cry.
"Oh, Roy! The sea!"
Above the screeching of the wind and the hum of the motor they could now
hear another sound, the thunder of the surf on the beach.
Straining his eyes ahead Roy could see now the white gleam of the
breakers as they broke in showers of spray on the seashore. A real sense
of terror, such as he had never felt before, clutched at his heart as he
heard and saw.
But controlling his voice, he turned to Peggy.
"Be brave, little sister," he said; "we'll pull through all right."
Peggy said nothing in response. She dared not trust her voice to speak
just at that moment. White faced and with staring, fixed eyes, she sat
motionless and silent, as the Golden Butterfly was driven out above the
roaring surf and the tossing waves. To her alarmed imagination the sea
seemed to be reaching up hungry arms for the two daring young aviators.
Suddenly she was half blinded by a brilliant flash of light which bathed
the aeroplane in a flood of radiance. The next instant it was gone, but
they could see the great shaft of radiance sweeping around the compass.
"It's the light!" cried Roy. "The Rocky Point light!"